


Druids are shit, but I’m hot so that’s ok

by Eri_senpai



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: 4:20 am yaasss, Altean! Lance, Angst, BAMF Lance (Voltron), Bisexual Lance (Voltron), I hate myself, Lance is his own grizzled older brother, M/M, Making Out, Mentions of Sex, Sort Of, Sort of older Lance, altean!lance, but not the actual thing, fake trick ass bitch Shiro, magic/quintessence, thiccer Lance, wet dreams
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-09
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-03-09 16:52:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13485738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eri_senpai/pseuds/Eri_senpai
Summary: A Druid hits Lance with a spell and he disappears right in front of Keith. Where is lance? Why did his jacket appear out of nowhere falling out of a portal?Or;Lance is thrown into a portal and everyone thinks he is dead but is he really?(AKA: in which I made Lance be his own grizzled older brother without knowing that would predict season 7. (not really))





	1. Gone...?

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this by impulse, I was literally planing to never write this, but I did so here it is.

Objectively speaking fighting Galran druids is among Lance’s personal ‘top 10 anime villains’. With them you simply couldn’t afford to be hit with one of their weird quintessence power-ball thingies, with guards and standard enemies at least the armor gave some protection; if quintessence spells were to hit you that was it, you just got turned into a frog, pal! (On the other hand, it meant Allura would have to kiss you which isn’t bad at all.)

“Pidge, look out!” Lance bellowed as he saw a Power-ball almost hit Pidge in the chest; she was thankfully able to react in time and dodge it.

The thing about druids was that they didn’t let you get near them because they weren’t really trained at hand to hand combat. That didn’t stop Keith from trying to attack them with his sword, although he had to block every spell with it.

Fortunately, shooting at the druids had proved to be very effective; druids were slow and meanwhile Hunk could shoot at a higher rate than Lance, they traveled through air slower and admittedly with less precision that Lance’s own shots.

Lance had shot three druids down, Hunk had shot one. Druids did not bleed, or well they technically did, but it was not blood, it was what Lance now recognized as corrupted quintessence, which you guessed it was really creepy.

Now, as much as Lance hates to admit it this last Druid is giving them a run for his money, plus more robot guards have arrived and Pidge, hunk and Allura went to fighting them off, leaving Keith and Lance to finish with the last standing Druid.

“You foolish humans, everything would be easier if you just surrendered!” The Druid cried launching yet another spell at Lance, who skillfully avoided it.

Neither Lance nor Keith honored the comment with a response, you know they were busy fighting for their lives. This proved to be very effective, the druid had started to back down, noticing Lance and Keith had the upper hand.

“If I must die for lord Zarkon, then so it be!” The crazy Druid screeched. “But I will bring you to the depths of hell with me!”

_Wow_ , Lance’s mind supplied, _that was edgy._

Lance’s thoughts halted when he saw the Druid’s eyes glow an intense yellow, that would be normal, for Druid standards of course, if it weren’t for the fact the quintessence leaked through the Druid’s face literally cracking the skin around it as they shook while murmuring incomprehensible words.

“Hope you go to a place worse than hell Paladin.” She smirked, talking directly to Keith with unbelievable hate in her voice.

_Oh no_ , Lance thought, _no no no no no_! The Druid was looking at Keith, he was so going to be zapped. Lance couldn’t let that happen.

The Druid fired the spell so fast that Lance’s mind and body was on autopilott. Lance shoved Keith out of the way, making him fall on his cute butt (this was literally the worst time to be thinking about his butt, but sue him). The spell hit dead on the center of Lance abdomen, surprisingly it didn’t hurt but then a portal opened. It was in that moment Lance knew, he fucked up; his hands began to disintegrate into small blue glowing pieces that were sucked into the portal.

“NO!” Keith cried from the floor in impotence as he watched Lance get thrown to god knows where. “LANCE!”

“I...I...” Lance tried to say something, anything. He knew he was probably going to die, and he always wanted some cool last words. “I-I’m sorry.” That was all he could utter as he was turned completely in glowing blue pieces and sucked into a portal/probs death.

Keith stared in wide eyes that started to tear as the portal closed. He quickly turned to the Druid, who was too being also falling into darkening yellow glowing pieces of quientessence.

“WHERE DID HE GO?!” Keith stood up and wielded his sword towards the dying Druid. “WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?!”

The Druid let out a weak chuckle, with the most satisfied grin, that made Keith want to tear her apart. “You will never find him Paladin, be grateful he was foolish enough to sacrifice himself for a filthy halfling like you.” With that they broke apart in a bunch of pieces of quintessence.

Keith felt his legs go weak, he drops his sword first then he drops to his knees. He didn’t cry but he sure as hell wanted to. He stands still for a few minutes feeling numb.

Pidge, Hunk, and Allura round the corner lightly scraped.

“Keith, all clear.” Allura states. “We should get going to the castle now, we got what we need.”

Keith is unable to form a response.

 “Wait, where is Lance?” Pidge asked.

Keith is to mentally weak to respond once again.

“Keith?” Hunk said immediately noticing the heartbroken expression on the black paladin’s face. “You okay, buddy?”

Keith turns to them tears about to roll down his cheeks. “He’s gone.” He states in a weak voice.

“...What?” Hunk asks feeling of dread shooting up his body.

“That Druid made him disappear.” Keith explained not any more composed than before.

“No. No, no Keith please no, tell me this is a joke.” Hunk already had tears streaming down his cheeks and a look Keith had never seen before; despair. “Please tell me Lance is hiding somewhere ready to scare us...please...” Hunk’s voice broke at the end and he started to choke on tears when Keith was painfully silent.

Allura eyes are glassy but it’s obvious she is trying to maintain her composure for the sake of the team. Pidge on the other hand is already sobbing as she remembers all the memories she had with Lance.

“We should get back to the castle and start looking for him.” Allura said sadness clear in her tone.

The rest agreed silently and followed to the castle. All of them arrived to the lion’s hangars, Black was carrying the red lion who stood lifeless once led down by Voltron’s current leader.

Shiro was already outside when the Paladins got down.

“Hey guys,” Shiro said, then he notices the puffy eyes and the missing Paladin. “What…? What happened? Where is Lance?”

“He’s gone.” Pidge croaked as fresh tears made their way down her face.

Shiro’s eyes widened but didn’t say anything, there was really nothing he could say to begin with.

Dinner was deadly silent, after a few seconds Pidge claimed she wasn’t hungry and went to her room with a grim expression; Hunk on the other hand drowned his pains in food. Allura, Coran, Keith, and Shiro continued to eat, though it felt empty.

The next day at breakfast it was the same, none of them had rested and the team had the burning question of how it had happened, but it would hurt too much to ask.

“I’m sorry Keith, but I can’t go another minute without knowing what really happened to him.” Hunk said, his puffy eyes pleading.

“That’s ok Hunk.” Keith said as calmly as he could, he took a deep shaky breath. “We were fighting the last of the Druids, we were winning, they said they preferred to die but that they would drag me with them.

I don’t know why, but I was paralyzed, the Druid’s eyes glowed so much their body started to crack with quintessence, before I could react they launched a spell at me, but Lance pushed me away and got hit instead.

He started to dissolve into some sort of blue quintessence and disappeared into a portal. Then the Druid died.” Keith said, and rage started to fill him. “She said we would never find him and that I should be grateful he sacrificed himself for me.” He said through gritted teeth.

Keith was mad, mad at himself for not doing anything, mad at Lance for scarifying himself, and mad at the world for taking one the few people he cared about.

“I’m sorry.” Keith choked in his frustration, his hands grabbing his hair in an overly harsh manner. “I let him die.”

“No Keith, this is not your fault, and Lance is not dead, we will find him.” Shiro reassured.

“No! You don’t understand Shiro, I saw him crumble into pieces of quintessence! He is dead, and he is not coming back!” Keith snapped and stood up and went to the training room.

The others stayed in the dining room knowing Keith had to cool off.

Then Allura gasped, startling everyone in the table.

“Coran! Were our Altean priestesses able to open portals to another dimension?!” She asked.

“Well princess, from what I can recall only the strongest of them could.” Coran said with none of his usual enthusiasm.

“...Could I do it?” Allura asked hopeful.

“....Not with your current training.” Coran said. “It would take you years to be able to do that.”

“Oh...” everyone deflated with that response.

“Aw, everyone, do not worry, we will find a way, like we always do!” Coran tried to lift the spirits of team Voltron, however sadness filled his eyes.

Meanwhile Keith was training, directing his emotions into the swings of his sword. He let a cry of frustration as he brutally stabbed one of the training robots.

“End training session.” Keith heard the machine turn off.

He sighed.

Lance’s absence was different from Shiro’s, while yes, Shiro’s disappearance had made Keith very sad. This time Keith felt very alone, he felt truly lonely without Lance actively trying to make him laugh and giving him the emotional support no one else could give him. There was also the fact he actually saw how Lance disappeared probably to never be seen again.

The last couple of months things between Lance and Keith had been different. They would still argue, but there was a different vibe to how the used to, it was more like friendly teasing. Even Pidge said they had started to look like boyfriends.

Keith huffed a bitter laugh, boyfriends. If Lance were here, Keith would have blushed intensely and died right then and there.

The sound that resembled that of a wormhole being opened made Keith snap his eyes forward. A dark blue portal opened, Keith got his sword ready, in position to attack.

He approached the portal cautiously, sword firmly in his hands. He looked at the portal, it being too small to be entered.

The strange thing was what Keith saw reflected on the other side of the portal, it was nowhere near a clear image, being heavily blurred Keith was only able to barely make out the shape of a man.

Keith frowned.

“What the fuck?”

It seamed as if the man on the other side of the portal was talking to him, muffled noises that must have been words reached Keith’s ears, but none was comprehensible.

Keith saw as the man seamed to extend his hand towards him, handing him something. Keith, true to his nature, hesitated not trusting the stranger and abstaining from receiving anything. The strangers hand made it to Keith’s side of the portal, on it was a familiar green jacked, which oddly looked more faded and used than the last time he saw it.

Keith’s eyes widened, that was Lance’s jacket!

The portal flickered slightly, he figured it wouldn’t stay open for much longer. Keith started to reach for the jacket, but the stranger’s hand instantly dropped it and got their hand back into the portal, which also disappeared shortly after.

Keith wasted no time, he took Lance’s jacket and ran as fast as he could to Allura’s room, busting the doors open and startling Allura, who was about to get inside her bed.

“Wha-?! Keith, you scared me, what is it?” She said, currently in her night gown.

Keith almost shoved the green jacket into her face. After a short inspection, Allura’s eyes widened.

“This-this is Lance’s” She said. “How did you find it?” Allura looked at Keith with hopeful eyes.

Keith briefly explained what he saw. “Does this mean Lance is alive?”

“We don’t know for certain yet.” She said sadly. “But now we have a lead to where he is.”


	2. The Master

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance's side of the story.  
> (Yep, he is not dead, YAY)

Lance’s eyes slowly opened, he groaned in pain, his head was hurting, and he was unhealthily cold, even with his paladin clothes and his normal clothes underneath. He noticed he had no helmet and probably a concussion to go with it.

Blinking hard a few times, Lance was able to muster enough strength to sit up. He looked around, everything was white and snowy, not to mention cold as fuck. Seeing the smartest idea was to wonder along the cold mountains and see if someone could help him, he got up onto his feet and with great difficulty and staggered forward.

As Lance walked with no destination in mind, intrusive thoughts invaded his head. How was he going to get back to the team? He wasn’t as smart as Hunk and Pidge, or as rough and adaptable as Shiro and Keith, who he was probably never going to see them again, not that they really needed him in the first place.

Tears filled his eyes as he thought of how he will never see any of the people he loves again. Lance probably even deserves this, he never does things right, this must be his karma. It progressively gets harder to keep going, Lance just wants to close his eyes and get over with this.

He flops to the ground, unable to keep going, as he feels himself slipping away into unconsciousness, he sees two figures running toward him blurred by this already closing eyes.

His vision goes black.

Next time Lance was able to opens his eyes he is in some sort of futon, he is cozy, and his headache is gone.

He groans as he sits up…

Mostly gone.

Lance inspects his surroundings, it appears as if he is in some sort of old Asian style room. It is on the smaller side, but Lance is more thankful to whoever brought him here than the room décor at the moment.

He notices he is wearing some sort of training robe, it’s quite comfortable, but Lance instantly searches for his armor and clothes, that are neatly folded on the side of the bed. Questions start to arise, as to where he is, what planet, how far from his team is he?

After shortly debating if he should go out the room or stay, Lance sled the paper door, inspecting the long wooden halls. He walked cautiously, appreciating every detail of the crafted wood surrounding him.

Ten minutes or so later, Lance finds himself in a bigger room, in the distance he can see many aliens of all types of species training in what seems to be some type of martial art. Lance admires them for a moment before he decides to ask someone where he is.

“Excuse me?” Lance says towards some cat-girl who seams to be resting from training. “Where am I?”

“Oh, you are awake!” She says cheerfully. “Master wanted to see you!”

“Who is Master?” Lance asked.

“She’s the one that runs this place, she’s quite famous you know.” The cat-girl says. “By the way my name is Gatiña.” She smiles at him with deep green eyes. “Follow me, I’ll take you to Master.”

Lance walks along Gatiña toward a big salon with huge teal doors.

“So, what planet do you come from?” She asked, trying to make small talk.

“Earth, I don’t know if you have heard of it.” Lance says, they probably don’t know what Voltron is.

“What? Of course, I have heard of Earth, the paladins of Voltron are from Earth too!” Gatiña said excitement sparkling in her eyes.

“Wait, you know of Voltron?” Lance said surprised and hopeful, they didn’t really look as an advanced enough community to be affected by the war.

“Dude, they’re Voltron, everybody knows them!” She states. “In fact, you kind of look like the red paladin.”

Lance smirked. “That’s because I a-.”  He was about to gloat about being part of Voltron, but the teal big doors start to open. Lance and Gatiña enter a blue meditation room, where an ethereal creature, was levitating from the floor and her glorious alien hair with the galaxy itself on it. That’s no joke, she literally had the universe in her hair, _that some crazy alien shit_ , thought Lance admiring her.

She “sat” (levitated) on the floor, eyes closed her satin pinkish robes fluttering slightly as she floated. Lance stood there amazed at the master, whom he wondered the extent of her power. To be honest seeing an alien levitating wasn’t among the weirdest things Lance has seen, he knows for a fact he has seen weirder shit out in space. However, there is something about the master, she has what Lance can only describe as a powerful aura, like the _‘I can crush you with my pinky finger’_ type of aura. The master suddenly opens her eyes looking straight into Lance’s soul, or at least that is what it feels.  

 _“Greetings Lance.”_ She said.

Wait.

She had no mouth how was she talking?

 _“I do not talk like most.”_ The master said still giving Lance an unwavering gaze.

 _Holy shit, does she read minds?_ Lance thought wildly.

 _“No Paladin, I do not read minds per se, I merely capture whatever thoughts that your mind lets flow out of your head.”_ She explained, and Lance did not know if that frightened him more or not. _“Similarly, I transmit the words I want you to hear.”_

Now _that_ was something Lance hadn’t seen before, points for originality I guess.

Well then, _“Nice to meet you?”_ Lance tried transmitting his thoughts to her.

He doesn’t know _how,_ and probably never will, but Lance swears he could feel her smile in his mind.

 _“Likewise.”_ Said the master’s voice on Lance’s head. _“You are most probably wondering where you are.”_

Nope, he was wondering why all majestic aliens have a British accent, but sure, knowing where he is might be helpful in the future, so Lance nodded.

 _“Very well, after you collapsed on the snow and two of the students here found you we brought you to my temple, you had a concussion, so my healers cured you and we let you rest.”_ She said.

“Oh yeah, thank you and all your student for helping me, I probably would have died if it weren’t for you.” Lance said with sincerity, he had forgotten to send the message through his thoughts, nevertheless she understood.

She nodded as to acknowledge his gratitude. _“Am I to assume you will be going soon?”_

“Well yeah,” Lance said awkwardly. “you know, Voltron, saving the universe.” He laughed. “duty calls!”

 _“I see,”_ She said. _“how will you be returning to Voltron, are they coming?”_ The master said, slightly feeling concerned for something.

“You don’t have communication with Voltron?” Lance had never been to a planet that didn’t had no way of communicating with Voltron.

 _“No, the Galra have never invaded this planet, hence Voltron has never been here.”_ The master explained. _“Also, the rules here state no one is to bring electronic devices if they wish to train under me.”_

“What? Why?” Lance was now worried, how was he ever going to get to his friends, or Earth for that matter, was he doomed to forever stay in this unknown planet? “How are there so many different aliens here if they have no way of knowing of this place?”

The still floating alien raised a mental eyebrow. _“This place is legendary, not only because of its history, but there is no other known place that offers better martial arts training.”_ She answered.

“So people just arrive here, get off the ship and never look back?” Lance was desperate to find his friends.

 _“Indeed.”_ Was the simple response master gave him.

“I see…” The lump in Lance’s throat was almost unbearable.

Perhaps seeing the sadness in the former blue paladin, the master spoke again.

“I could personally train you, if you so wish to.” Offered the master said.

As a rather distant thought, Lance imagined himself back with the team, showing them how cool and strong he had become, how he wasn’t a burden anymore. Pidge would probably roll her eyes along with Allura, Hunk and Coran would be impressed, Shiro would nod proudly, what would Keith do is a mystery to Lance. Would Keith be impressed? Or would he roll his eyes just like Pidge and Allura?

Why was he trying to impress Keith anyway? Lance’s brain answered his own question.

His huge, painful, and awkward crush. Lance didn’t even know if Keith liked men, he could be straight for all he knows, ugh, his mom warned him about falling for straight men, she was right of course.

BUT WHATEVER, this was no time to be thinking about Keith Kogane’s perfect face!! (and perfect everything, but if Lance got started on that he would never stop.)

With a sad smile, as he returned to reality, he accepted the masters offer. His reasons might be somewhat shallow, but he wasn’t about to be around to mope forever on a cold foreign planet, he was going to mope forever on a cold foreign planet _while_ he trained.

“Very well, Lance, we shall start tomorrow.” Said the master. “Now rest, training will be rough tomorrow.”

Lance almost snorted, it can’t be that bad. Honestly it can not be worse than Allura when she is feeling particularly bitchy.

Once he said good bye to the master, he got to his hopefully temporary room and tried to sleep. Lance dreamt he was with the team again, same as he did for rest of the time he was in that planet.

Sometimes he was lounging with Pidge, or just talking with Hunk, others he was arguing with Keith, or braiding Allura’s hair as Coran rambled. It was only the mornings after he woke up that Lance felt overwhelmed with loneliness and cried.

He just hopes they find him soon.

 

Never in his life had Keith seen Pidge and Hunk working so fiercely and restlessly together. Once he had handed them Lance’s jacket hope reignited in their eyes, along with fiery determination Hunk and Pidge roughly took the green jacket from Keith’s hand and bolted to Pidge’s room. After that, Keith only ever saw them at training and meals, and even then, they would be in a rush to eat, then once done return to finding Lance.

Concerning Voltron, they stood with their hands tied to their backs, Black would not accept Shiro, which by the way depressed Shiro and further worsen Keith’s stress, thus Red also refused to let anyone pilot her, even Allura said that Blue had a sadder tone every time Lance was brought up. Keith did not like that at all; his mind, as helpful as it is, took that as the lion knowing their rightful paladin had died, a very somber thought he tried to repress.

Practice was still held up, yes, but it was far from the same as always, the only way to explain it is it being as if there was a pressure on all the paladins, not having Lance was letting Voltron responsibilities overwhelm the team, not only because they now had only four lions, but without anyone to tell Pidge to rest, make the team laugh, or stop Keith from over exhausting himself with training they were solely falling apart.

Everyone on the team had taken Lance for granted and now they were paying the price.

“Have you found anything on Lance’s whereabouts?” Asked Shiro, as he checked up on Hunk and Pidge’s advances.

“Only some strange chemical that is extremely rare on the universe that was on Lance’s jacket.” Said Pidge as she continued to type onto the computer, not even glancing at Shiro and Keith.

“We are trying to find which planets have this chemical to limit our options.” Hunk said still examining the chemicals on Lance’s jacket. He then looked at Keith. “Was there anything suspicious about the jacket when it fell through the portal?”

“Not that I remember.” Keith said, frowning as he tried to remember a few nights back when the portal opened. “Wait, I remember something white on it, like snow,” He looked at Pidge and Hunk. “does that help?”

Pidge and Hunk both gasped loudly, the first typing faster than the speed of light, while Hunk dictated her what Keith assumed was the formula of the chemical they talked about.

Then Pidge stopped typing and smirked. “Done! I got the name of the planet.” She said triumphant.

Shiro and Keith grinned back.

“Then let’s tell Allura and Coran to set the course.” Keith said, relieved he was going to get to see Lance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things about this chapter:  
> -I MADE A DRAWING OF THE MASTER, YOU CAN CHECK IT OUT ON MY INSTAGRAM: @eli_ro_2021 it's the last one i made, i hope you guys like it.
> 
> -I was soooo busy, I hate school, I really do, not even the people, just the academic part of it.  
> -I wanted all the chapter to be about what happened to Lance through Lance's eyes, because I already showed you guys what was happening with the rest of team, I wanted you to see Lance.  
> -I've been trying to make clear through who we are seeing the story, whether it be Lance or Keith, I don't know if I have achieved that.  
> -Lance is not remotely surprised the master knows his name because most aliens do anyway.  
> -I avoided the name of the planet Lance is in because I don't know how to name it, i'm not going to lie, so do not get me started with planet names.  
> -Electronic devices harm the master, is sort of a species thing.


	3. Blood, sweat, and wet dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team tries to find Lance! And Keith has a VERY interesting dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Very special thanks to basil_soup for Betaing this chapter!!!!!  
> U ARE AMAZING!!!

“Coran! What is our status?” Allura asked Coran as the ship closed in on their destination.

Truth to be told, everyone in the team was elated to finally be able to see Lance again. Since Pidge had told everyone the news, the team seemed to be in a better mood that they had been in all week.

Keith sighed, even when Lance was not here he cheered the team up. However, now that he had had an opportunity to calm down and think, Keith had felt wrong. Like they weren’t going to the right place, but that didn’t make sense. He himself had found that jacket, not to mention the complicated events leading him to get it.

Although uneasy, Keith still is desperate to find Lance. Even if Lance isn't on this planet, it's still a lead. By going to this planet, Keith can maybe, just maybe, understand what the fuck is going on with his friend/crush.

As they landed, the paladin's strapped on their armor. They would need its protection, Allura had explained, as the cold weather would be otherwise unbearable.

The paladins scouted the surrounding area, watching as the heavy snow blanketed the mountains in white.

“God, I hope Lance is safe,” Said Hunk, worried about how his best friend could have lived through this. “It’s way too cold for any human to be here more than twelve hours, suit or no suit.”

“This is bad, Hunk is right,” Pidge said in concern, waving around a small device in her hand. “My recorder isn’t picking any sign of Lance at all. That either means he was never here or hasn’t been here in days.”

Keith didn’t like either of those. He knew that by now his hunch had proven to be correct, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t disappointed. They searched for another two hours, with no results.

“We are on the wrong fucking planet.”

Everyone was frustrated, and but Keith was furious.

Keith threw his helmet to the ground in a fit of rage. “Where the FUCK is he?!”

Pidge took out a small tube opened it and filled it with the slightly pink snow surrounding them, then muttered something like ‘for research’ and put it in her pocket.

“Keith, you must remain calm,” Allura said firmly. “a black paladin should-“

“I don’t care what a black paladin should do!” Keith snaps at her. “And if Lance is not here then I don’t want to be the black paladin!” Then he stormed off to the castle.

“Under different circumstances that would have been sweet.” Hunk said, grimacing.

“Well, maybe he'll find something else useful in the training room.” Pidge shrugged as Allura glared at her. “He did last time!” Pidge stated in her defense.

 

_Keith couldn’t tell where in the castle he was exactly, as all halls looked the same, Keith continued to wander, with only the fluorescent blue lights on the walls as his guide. As far as Keith could tell he was near the kitchen when suddenly he found himself right in front of the dining room. Surprisingly, Keith didn't question it._

_“Keith?” A familiar voice said._

_Keith instantly turned to face it._

_“Lance?”_

_To say Keith was surprised was an understatement. “You came back!” He smiled like he hasn't in days._

_Then it hit Keith. He was dreaming!_

_“Yes! -wait no, I’m not really here here.” Lance tried to explain. At that moment Keith studied Lance’s appearance. He looked a little more muscular, but his eyes were just as bright. Keith had almost forgotten how attractive he found Lance. “This is a dream, you are dreaming.”_

_‘Oh,’ Keith thought, ‘It’s **that** kind of dream.’ _

_“I did a…what did master call it?” Lance muttered. “Astral projection? Right, astral projecting into your dreams.” Now, that seemed weird. Normally dream Lance would sort of appear and they’d just get to it, no questions asked, but maybe this is a way for Keith’s brain to justify Lance being in front of him even though he disappeared._

_Fine, then, Keith will just cut the shit instead._

_“Cool, let’s go to my room then.”_

_“What? No, I don’t have that kind of time, I just need to tell you guys where I am.” Lance said with urgency. “I’m in a planet called Khalijan.” Keith frowned at that._

_“We searched that planet today, you definitely weren’t there.” Keith said confused. “Why don’t we just go to my room and get this over with?”_

_“That’s impossible, I would have known if you had come here.” Lance said, ignoring the ‘let’s go to my room’ part._

_"Well, we definitely went there, I even snapped at Allura and made a dramatic exit you would be proud of." Keith said while Lance laughed. Oh god how much he had missed that laugh._

_“Oh, Keith, I didn’t know dreaming you would be so funny.” Lance said, smile still radiant._

_“Yeah, well dreaming me has no filter.” Keith said, guessing this wasn’t so bad after all._

_“But in all seriousness, how is red doing? Is someone piloting her?” Lance asked._

_“No, she is not letting anyone in." Keith said, his stress about life, in general, catching up with him._

_“What about Shiro, can’t he pilot Black yet?” Lance had resigned in trying to get team Voltron to find his location._

_“Black won’t let him in, she says she doesn’t trust Shiro, and I can’t understand why,” Keith said, clearly concerned._

_“Don’t worry, you will figure it out,” Lance placed a supportive hand on Keith’s shoulder. “you are amazing like that.”_

_Keith felt a lump form in his throat. Fucking dreams and their no filter policy. "I can't." Keith's voice cracked. "Not without you here." Then Lance hugged him tightly, this being a dream Keith didn’t physically feel it, but he felt like Lance was really there._

_"Look, Keith, I have to go, but I won't give up on coming back, I swear." Lance looked like he was crying too. "I've missed you so much, don't forget that, this has probably been the worst six months of my life. But I will come back either because you guys find me, or I find you.”_

_Wait, Six months? Keith was about to ask him what that was about, but Lance didn’t let him._

_“Bye Keith.” Lance was started to fade._

_Fuck, not this again._

_“Wait, Lance!”_

Then he was gone, and Keith opened his eyes.

He was crying.

“Ugh, feelings." Keith said wiping the drying tears off his face as he sat on his bed. “Why didn’t I just have a wet dream and save myself all that bullshit.” He muttered.

 

In the three months, Lance had been training with Master he was proud to say he had learned how to fight better than most of the students there. Maybe it was because the master herself was teaching Lance, but he liked to think he was good at this thanks to his crazy flexibility (and Paladin training), he would have to thank his mother one day for making him go to gymnastics class with his sisters.

The planet was very peaceful, maybe it was because the only living things in the planet were those who lived in the temple, or maybe it was because everyone knew the master was here and she was crazy strong. Other than the bland food they served Lance had no complaints and not even that since he is used to food goo being his only food source for a year.

Anyone on Khalijan would tell you this was the most peaceful planet you could find, and that is a lot, considering that there is a war that extends throughout most of the known universe.

However, that all changed four months after Lance arrived.

It started just like a normal day would, because doesn’t it always?

Lance had just woken up fairly early when he heard the distinct sound of lasers outside his room. But Lance _knew_ those lasers, they were Galra lasers; his suspicions were confirmed when he looked outside the window. Galra thrusters hovered menacingly over the temple, firing at any person on sight.

“Shit!” Lance wasted no time and grabbed his worn-out armor and bayard, suiting up quickly and nearly busting the sliding door.

As he ran down the corridors he noted most of the students were headed to the battle without hesitance. Lance cursed under his breath, they were trained in hand to hand combat, but against ships, Galra ships? They couldn’t do anything.

Lance could barely watch how they were hit with the laser to instantly disappear; while it was something new, the Galra gaining new weapons wasn’t unusual at all.

Lance saw how some of the Galra came out of one of the ships and headed straight to where Lance knew the Master was. His eyes widened for a second before he instantly ran towards where she was, being as far as he was, lance prayed he got there on time.

Once he got there, Lance started shooting as many Galran robots as he could, he was not able to stop one that attacked him from behind with a glowing purple sword. Lance used his bayard as a shield, but by doing that the robot soldier knocked the laser gun out of his hands. Lance dogged all he could and using his new training was able to disable the robot, but as soon as he was about to get his bayard he noticed the Master surrounded by Galran soldiers, some of whom were aiming their firearms at her head.

“NO!” Lance screeched when he saw the soldiers charging the lasers. Master looked at him for a few seconds, then he saw the exhaustion in her eyes, she had used all her power, she closed her eyes as if waiting for the blow.

Lance stretched a hand willing for all of this to end. Why did everyone he knew suffer? Why couldn’t he stay with those he cared for?

Lance felt something pulling in his stomach, blue light gathered in the palm of his hands, and all the robot soldiers turned to look at him; they stilled for a second, then the purple glow, signature of Galran tech slowly faded. It turned blue for a moment before all the robots collapsed on the floor.

“W-what?” Lance looked at his hands. How had he done that? What did he even do?

 _“Lance!”_ The voice of the Master rumbled in his mind. _“There’s no time for questions.”_ She said in a hurried voice. _“You must help me destroy those ships.”_

“B-but, I don’t know how!” Lance cried, he couldn’t understand anything of what was going on.

 _“I can do the spells myself, but I do not possess enough quintessence to cast them.”_ Master said. _“I must borrow some of your quintessence.”_ She instructed how to transfer the power to her and explained he would have to do it as Master cast the spell.  

Lance followed her instructions and tried to transmit his quintessence towards her. Master’s hand glowed white and then the Galran ships exploded violently, with way more power Lance would ever expect. The Master looked just as surprised as Lance felt.

 _"You are even more powerful than I expected."_ She said, amazed at the destruction upon her.

Lance turned to her, frowning. “You knew I had powers?”

 _"Yes, Paladin."_ Master said. _“I have waited for you for a very long time, and just as the elders told me, you have truly a powerful light inside you.”_

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Lance asked, feeling dizzy because of all the energy he used.

 _“I had to make sure you were the one.”_ She said that as if she had waited for decades to say that. _“And this was the only way.”_

“Wait,” Lance halted. “’the only way’? _You_ did this?” He gestured at the sight before them, anger rising in him as he saw the students of the temple injured as they attempted to get up.

 _“Yes, and your powers manifested just as I thought.”_ She said.

“How dare you?!” He yelled at her. “To your own students! They look up to you, respect you! And you dare disregard their lives like this?!!” Lance hated people like that, ever since the incident with king Lubos in Olkarion.

 _“You know nothing child, I have waited for you for centuries!”_ The Master yelled in his mind too.

“I don’t care how many millennia you had to wait!” Lance said vehemently. “Not when you killed your own students!”

 _“They are safe Lance.”_ The Master stated strongly. _“That is why I was so drained.”_ She explained. _“I was using my powers to transport them to safety every time one of them was in danger.”_

“But I saw them…vanish!” Lance opened his mouth to say something else, but with a quick movement, the Master made the lost students appear right in the center of the room. “Wha-?”

 _“I would never endanger my students,”_ She said. _“at least not without knowing I could protect them.”_

‘Thank fuck’ Thought Lance not knowing what he would have done if that weren’t the case. “Why are you so interested in my powers anyway?”

 _“Well, the fact that an earthling like you possesses them after so many years is nearly impossible, yet here you are,”_ Master said also transmitting happiness into Lance’s mind. _“lost Altean magic emerging from your hands.”_

Lance’s eyes widen in surprise at that. “A-A-Altean?!” Lance couldn’t restrain himself from yelling at what Master had said. “As i-in, I have A-Altean blood?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sooooooooooooooooooooo tired, I'm sorry for not doing the end notes. :(


	4. Season 2 Keith Arc Level Shit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We finally see the team's reaction to Keith's almost wet dream. Also, what the fuck, Shiro?

Lance’s eyes widen in surprise at that. “A-A-Altean?!” Lance couldn’t restrain himself from yelling at what Master had said. “As i-in, I have A-Altean blood?!”

_“Yes Lance, having these powers means you are at least part Altean.”_ Master said.

Fuck no. That is some season 2 Keith arc level shit, Lance does **not** have the time to deal with, because where on Earth does Lance has an Altean relative. Neither of his parents are Altean as far as Lance knows, but they should have told him by now, right? What about his Abuelita? She surely makes some crazy ass magic to cure colds, or is that just normal Abuela wisdom?

Anyway! This is NOT what Lance needs right now. He’d rather leave identity crises to Keith, Lance already had enough of those at 15 with his Bi crisis. (Which interestingly enough, Shiro was the one to kick start. Don’t blame Lance though, a hot ass man is a hot ass man.) Lance is a little busy trying to get back to his friends.

_“I understand what you want is to get back to your family.”_ The alien said as expressionless as always. _“But know that this is the only way I can help you get back, so please let me train you.”_

If this was the only way, then so be it.

“Fine.” Lance said and as he bid his goodbyes for the night after helping clean the destroyed area of the temple, he laughed to himself. There was a time he would dream of having powers, be like the protagonist of the shows he used to watch back when he could. What he didn’t understand was that war is not as cool as he once thought. War is bloody, terrifying, and will take what you love away from you.

* * *

 

Keith wasn’t completely sure what he saw was real or not, therefore he wasn’t sure he should tell the team about his dream, not to mention Pidge would never let him go if she knew Keith thought he was going to have a wet dream. Nevertheless, Keith walked to the dining room for breakfast and greeted everyone.

Keith noticed Allura wasn’t in the room.

“Has anyone seen Allura?” He asked. Pidge and Hunk looked at each other.

“She was on her way to the training room, looking for you.” Hunk said, he hadn’t been the same since Lance disappeared, maybe he remained calm at first, but as days passed Hunk started to miss Lance’s presence; there were dark circles under his eyes and their usual brightness is absent.

“Keith!” Allura’s voice sounds from the entrance to the dining room. Keith, of course immediately turned to her. “Blue just told me you have more information on Lance!” She sounded elated toward the possibility of having new leads to find her lost friend.

Keith on the other hand hesitated. The fact that Blue talked Allura about him having information about Lance confirmed that last night Lance was really his dreams. (Also, that meant that Keith tried to have dream sex with Lance, which Keith will have time to be embarrassed later.) Either way, what he and Lance talked about didn’t exactly reveal anything new about Lance’s whereabouts.

“More like I talked to him.” Keith mused.

“You what?!” Pidge and Hunk jumped, Keith winced.

“He sort of appeared in my dreams.” Keith explained, at which Pidge shot him a smug look. “He did an astral projection into my dreams.” Keith glared at Pidge. “I wasn’t sure that was really sure that was real, that’s why I didn’t say anything.”

“So, what happened?” Shiro asked. Keith looked at him, dark bags under his eyes along with an exhausted posture, and Keith felt terrible for his brother.

Keith scratched the back of his head, debating what parts of his dream he should reveal. He resolved nothing was of real importance to find Lance. “I…don’t remember exactly what happened.” Keith lied.

“Do not fret number four!” Coran cheerily said. “Us Alteans, were especially interested in dreams, and how they worked.” He said and guided the team to the central room of the castle where Coran typed something onto the controls of the castle. A hole in the floor opened and all present saw how some sort of headband and a small screen that popped into view. “This is a dream reader, it shows a visual representation of the last dream the user had.”

“I assume that I just have to put this on my head, right?” Keith said grabbing the headset and placing it on his head.

“Indeed, number four. Close your eyes and think about the dream you had.” Coran said. “We will watch your dream through this screen.” The team gathered around Coran to watch Keith’s dream.

Keith sighed one last time and closed his eyes. Then, the screen lit up.

The team saw everything play out, from the low-key flirting to Keith’s mental (dream?) breakdown, through which Keith sat uncomfortably. Once the dream was over, and Keith prepared himself to face his team.

Opening his eyes, the first thing he saw was Allura smiling at him sympathetically.

“Thank you for showing us, Keith.” She said. Allura understood the emotional toll the recent events were hard on Keith. First, Shiro disappearance, and just when he gets back, Lance, who had been Keith’s biggest support, disappear.

“Could have lived without all the flirting, though.” Pidge said as she typed in her computer, but she stopped suddenly to smirk at Keith. “However, it was hilarious to see you think it was another kind of dream.”

Keith felt his cheeks heat up.

“What kind of dream?” Hunk looked confusedly at Pidge.

“Are you serious?” She said. “It was so obvious.” Hunk continued to stare at Pidge in confusion. She looked like she was about to explain, but Keith cut her off.

“Anyway!” Keith jumped in. “What do you guys think?”

“It is extremely weird that we were on that planet, yet we didn’t find him.” Allura pondered, trying to make sense of the new information.

“There is something Lance said that bothers me.” Keith said as he looked al serious and shit. “He said something like ‘These have been the worst six months of my life’ which seems weird, he has only been missing for four days now.

“That is just Lance being Lance.” Shiro said nonchalantly, almost as if he didn’t care. But that clearly wasn’t the case, right? “He does tend to exaggerate.”

Something about what Lance said still didn’t feel right to Keith.

* * *

 

To Lance, every day he passed away from the team was an eternity, which thankfully was slightly sped up by the intense training the Master gave Lance. Days slowly turned into months, and nine months after Lance arrived, he started to think he would never go back to his team. He needed to go home, more than anything else. Lance didn’t care if this was the only place he could learn to use his powers, his team needed him and the blue lion.

“Master,” Lance said once he entered the enormous room. “may I speak to you?”

_“Of course, Lance.”_ She thought-spoke to Lance.

“I wanted to tell you that…” Lance hesitated, the Master and her disciples had been so good to him, and he feels like he is leaving without repaying them for their hospitality. “When I am good enough at magic to get to my friends I-I want…” Lance looked away.

_“That is alright my child, you strive to see you family again, new and old, I understand that and will do anything on my power to get you with them.”_ She said, still floating in the air.

Lance smiled at her.

Lance sighs wistfully and goes to his room to try to do another astral projection into his friends' dreams, preferably Keith’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry that I haven't been updating as fast as everyone, including myself, would like too, but I am SO tired, my school is utter shit, and I have so much work to do. I'm not even going to write my 'About this chapter' because I am incredibly tired. I'm sorry this was such a short chapter.


	5. That's Tea Sis (or: Shiro=Bitch=Drama)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro's being a bitch again, bitching about Lance and shit. The Lance protection squad (i.e. Hunk, Keith, and Coran) is there to defend Lance's honor in his absence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I LIVEEE!!!  
> Here I bring you another chapter to the fic nobody really reads.  
> Enjoy.  
> (I wrote this while on a family trip, and everyone thought I was doing homework. So I was like "Sorry aunt Monica, I can't hang out with you guys. I have homework to do :/" But really I was writing this. Thankfully most of my family doesn't know any English so nice save.)

It was one month later that Lance was able to open his first portal. It was infinitely small, so small only things roughly the size of an apple could fit. Either way, Lance was ecstatic.

Since he started learning how to manipulate quintessence, which in his mind he called magic, his improvement had been abysmal. Even Master had said she had never in her 2.1 billion years of existence seen someone improve at the rate Lance was.

He would be lying if he said he didn’t feel like quite the special snowflake having heard that. Lance had always thought he was ordinary. Yes, he did pilot a magic space lion, but among the awesomeness, the rest of team Voltron was, Lance was just a speck of dust. In other words, he felt the average among the above average.

Lance had a good idea of how these breaches worked. Basically, existence had three chief variables, time, space, and quintessence. Bending quintessence also bent the other three variables, therefore the result of manipulating quintessence had unpredictable effects on time and space. So, if you opened a breach there really was no telling where or when you opened said breach if you didn’t know how to control it.

  _“Lance, remember that gates such as these in the universe and everywhere else are complex mostly for one reason: it is incredibly difficult to know where they lead to.”_ The Master explained once again. _“No living thing will trespass your portals until you are able to control their destination. We will use these fruits as test subjects for the time being.”_

“Yes, ma’am.” Lance jokingly saluted.

The next month consisted of sending bright pink and purple fruit to god knows fucking where. Lance’s task seemed simple, he was to send the fruit a few meters away from them so that he could learn to control the direction of his portals.

Of course, Lance learned all kinds of ways he could bend quintessence, some more…humane than others.

“I…I-I can’t do that.” Said Lance appalled Master would ever ask him to manipulate another person’s quintessence, much less another fellow temple student, to literally control the other person’s actions. “That goes against _all_ my morals.”

 _“I am aware of that, Lance, that is precisely why I am teaching you.”_ Soothed the Master. _“I know you would never use this technique to hurt innocent people but to protect them. “_

Lance reluctantly complied and attempted to manipulate the student’s quintessence. The other man’s body moved at Lance’s will, which meanwhile was uncomfortable for the later, was amusing at the same time. At one-point Lance mentally squeezed too hard, making the other student cry out in pain, Lance immediately stopped meddling with the other man’s energy and apologized profusely.

 _“Quintessence runs through every living beings’ veins, and you will find it has many uses in one’s body and mind.”_ The Master stated ominously. _“Do not, under any circumstance abuse this power, or your own quintessence will become corrupt.”_

 _Then quintessence will control you._ Lance thought.

Later that month Lance was finally able to get the fruit to breach where he wanted to.

“Yes!” Lance exclaimed.

 _“You never cease to amaze me your, advance is most certainly remarkable.”_ The Master smiled through Lance’s mind. _“However, the bigger the object the more difficulty controlling the portal will be.”_

Those words stuck to Lance that night.

He hadn’t been able to contact anyone in the team, and as much as he hates to admit it, being 10 months away had slowly been deteriorating his hopes of being found. Not that he doubted the abilities of his teammates, it’s just that being almost lost for a year makes you doubt your team is even looking for you. Keith’s concern the night Lance astral projected himself into Keith’s dreams was his only assurance the team was looking for him, or that they even missed him.

Not to be an insecure little bitch, but Lance was hurting.

Desperation to have any type of contact with the team was dire, he needed them to know where he was, or at least that he was still alive.

Lance looked intensely at his green faded army jacket, and on an impulse decision he opened a breach he hopes was to wherever team Voltron was. He took the jacket and closed his eyes praying to whatever deity that would hear the piece of clothing made it to his team and sunk his hand right in. Nothing happened as Lance maintained his hand in the other side of the portal, he felt the change of temperature around his forearm, but nothing else.

Before he could regret everything, Lance dropped the article of clothing, imploring skyward once last time his family got what he sent.

Lance cried himself to sleep that night.

 

* * *

 

Things were _not_ fucking ok with team Voltron, they were #struggling since Red was not letting anyone pilot her. Missions were thirty times harder when they couldn’t form Voltron, also Shiro was being a little bitch, but nobody said anything because it was probably due to his PTSD and that alone was fucked up.

“We have to start looking for a new Red paladin.” Shiro said six days after Lance’s disappearance. “We have to accept Lance may not be coming back, that’s what he would have wanted us to do.”

The rest of team Voltron stood silently in astonishment.

Allura was the first to compose herself.

“Perhaps, you are rushing this matter a little too much?” Allura suggested a little too tight-faced. “Lance has only been missing less than a week.”

“Yes buddy, we are still looking for him, like we did for you.” Hunk says as angry as Hunk being Hunk can be, but sure as hell Shiro a ton of shade.

“We might even find a better Red paladin on the way.” Shiro tried to persuade the rest of the team to follow his idea. “It is common knowledge Lance was not the best at fighting or any other thing that a paladin should excel at.”

“What the fuck, Shiro?” Said Keith, finally unable to keep quiet.

“Literally,” Pidge said in equal distaste. “what the fuck, Shiro.”

“Shiro.” Coran said dryly. “It is one thing to be a leader to lead your people to greatness, and other to be a tyrant and leave them behind when they become inconvenient.” He said more serious than ever. “I suggest you reevaluate your views in the matter and rather than try to impose this to your own family.”

Shiro huffed almost unaffected by the negative response he received from his team. “Coran, I am the leader of this team, it is up to me to decide what is best for Voltron.”

“No Shiro, that is enough, I am the leader of this team, and I think we agree we are against leaving one of our own behind.” Keith gritted out, pained he had to treat his brother like this. “No matter the circumstances.” He stated with an undeniable power. “I suggest you rest, maybe tomorrow you will remember who we are. Who Lance is.” Keith said with such strength there was no room for argument.

Shiro glared at Keith some more before stomping out of the room.

“What on Earth was that?!” Pidge asked.

“I don’t know but I don’t want to sleep alone tonight.” Hunk said.

“What is wrong with him?” Keith didn’t like to argue with his brother, much less accusing him of not caring for a member of his team, but more than that he was concerned by Shiro’s odd behavior. “I don’t get why he is so mean to Lance.”

“You and me both, pal.” Said Hunk. “Not to threaten Shiro, I respect him, but if he hurts my baby boi, even indirectly, I will feed him to Kaltenecker.”

“Honestly not going to stop you.” Keith halfheartedly smiled at Hunk, who chuckled slightly.

“Welcome to the Lance protection squad.”

 

* * *

 

 

In another three months, Lance was able to learn everything the Master could teach him. Now he only had to put it to practice.

Not to brag, but Lance was a fucking badass. Combining quintessence with martial arts was a killer combination, call him overpowered but he kicked ass, he is sure ready to start trying to go back to his team.

 _“In theory you are ready.”_ The Master said.

“Wha-? What do you mean in theory?!” Lance exclaimed. “You said you taught me everything you know.”

 _“I did, but perfecting the techniques is only possible through practice.”_ She pointed out. _“I had millennia to do that, you gave yourself six months.”_

Lance considered. “So, you don’t think I am capable of doing flawless breaches, as I have been doing for the past two weeks?”

 _“It is not that I don’t think you are capable, it is more than you don’t know where you are or your friends for that matter.”_ She said. _“I have been suspecting for a while you are not in the same dimension as your friends.”_

“What!?” Lance exclaimed.

 _“You see, imagine all dimensions are a singular elongated 3D worm in the shape of a circle.”_ The Master explained. _It moves clockwise, and never moves any other way. If you move from your starting point you would have to go all the way around the infinite dimensions to get to the starting point.”_

“So, I have to travel through all the multiverse until I find my own?” Lance asks.

 _“Indeed.”_ She answers.

“But, you think I’m ready.” Lance said, but it sounded more like a question.

 _“Yes, I personally think you are ready to travel through all the multiverse.”_ The master mentally smiled at him.

“Then thank you so much for your assistance Master, it has been a wonderful journey alongside you.” Lance beamed at her.

 _“Likewise.”_ She said. _“But, before you go take this.”_ She said handing him an alien version of a backpack, Lance didn’t look inside, but knew that it would help.

He said his goodbyes once more and opened a breach.

Lance jumped inside picturing his team’s smiles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NEXT TIME IN KEEPING UP WITH THE TAKASHIANS: Shiro is still a bitch, but Lance is coming bacc thiccer than ever!!! 
> 
> Things about this chapter:  
> -(I wrote this while on a family trip, and everyone thought I was doing homework. So I was like "Sorry aunt Monica, I can't hang out with you guys. I have homework to do :/" But really I was writing this. Thankfully most of my family doesn't know any English so nice save.)  
> -See, when Keith became the leader I was not very happy about it, in fact, I was like: I. WANTED. BLACK. PALADIN. LANCEEE!!! But now Black paladin Keith has sort of grown on me, as you can see he has this leader strength, but at the same time he is conscient he is not the only one in the team and listens to what the others. Shiro, while not a bad leader, was like “It’s ok if you don’t agree with my idea, do whatever you want and fail.” Whereas Keith takes his idea and rounds it to the other perspectives.  
> -Still love black paladin Lance and think it would have been a way more interesting plot point to develop.  
> -This is not the real Shiro, is clone Shiro, just so we are clear.  
> -Is it just me or I got better at writing???????  
> -Did I rush it at the end? Yes. Yes, I did.  
> -I see nobody comments or anything and it honestly makes me really sad, not going to lie, it makes me think nobody reads this story despite the effort I have put on it, makes me question if I should keep on writing it. Maybe it's a waste of space, just like me.


	6. Lance and his thicc ass

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We see Lance finally arrive. Shiro can't stop being a bitch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heeyyyyy! Guys I was sooo encouraged by your nice messages on last chapter, so I had a flare of inspiration and wrote the second longest chapter I have ever written. I have the feeling that instead of 9 chapters I'm going to have to do 10 ya know because of the epilogue.
> 
> I WANT TO THANK EVERYONE THAT COMMENTED ON THE LAST CHAPTER, I WAS FEELING SHITTY AND YOU GUYS MADE ME FEEL WAYYYY BETTER!!!

Let’s just say that traveling through all the multiverse was a good idea at first. Lance thought it would all be nice and easy, maybe he would see some cool alternative universes where he was a superstar or Pidge had cat ears, or something NOT lethal.

Lance was wrong, guess he forgot being affiliated, even in the slightness, with Voltron meant that everything will try to kill you. He had seen it all; a universe where all universe had been conquered by the Galra (and he found the one where the Alteans where the bad guys), other where the Nazis won the second world war, and even one in which everything was the same except Coran’s hair was purple instead or orange.

Of course, Lance didn’t go through all the universes, because that is impossible since they are infinite. The problem was leaving these dimensions, some were difficult to leave because he was always literally attacked since he had to stay to prove this was or not his universe, others were difficult to leave because they were so similar to his own reality Lance was pained to leave people that so close resembled his friends.

Lance counted every day, it was one of the only things that kept him sane, it had been a year since he left the master and two since he last was in his dimension. Truth to be told there were times Lance wanted to give up, maybe stay in a universe where he has a ton of money and spend the rest of his days wondering if he could ever be back to team Voltron. However, he loved his family back on earth and team Voltron and would truly do anything for them.

Thus, there was Lance opening a breach to yet another dimension for the 365th-ish time, having absolutely no hope of finding his friends. He entered, Lance would say he has seen it all were it not because every time he says that he ends up somewhere even more fucked up.

Creating a breach Lance disappears into the glowing blue portal.

 

~~Druids are shit, but I'm hot so that's ok~~  

 

It’s been two weeks since Lance disappeared.

Things between members of team Voltron were tense, awfully tense. They were currently having dinner, in complete utter silence, and Keith hated it. He had not found a family, for it to just crumble like this, but Keith had absolutely no idea what to do in this situation. Even if he did say something, Shiro would say anything resembling the dumb shit he has been saying these days and it would be the exact same problem all over again.

But you know what? Fuck it.

Keith is about to say whatever bullshit he can spat out his mouth when a portal opens, throwing a man into view. Everyone turns to him, and as Voltron would all those sitting took out their weapons. The man before them was tall tan and muscular, not as muscular as Shiro, but attractively lean. He wore faux leather pants that framed his lean legs, a cerulean blue muscle-like shirt that showed the faint lines of his abs, and sleeves that covered his forearms but stopped before his shoulders.

He looked…he looked like Lance.

Naturally Voltron charged to attack the newcomer, as a reflex.

“Wow wow wow!” Lance says trying to calm them down. “Let’s all calm down and _breath_.” He extends his hands as if to stop them from shooting, and with one hand takes off the mask. “I’m Lance.”

“What?!” Pidge, Keith, and Allura exclaim in surprise, Hunk, Shiro, and Coran stared in bewilderment. The man before them does look like Lance, albeit taller, lean, and older.

“How can we be sure?” Keith in all his untrusting glory says.

“Oh, Keith, always so untrusting.” Lance sighs. “Ask me anything I would know, if I answer incorrectly, I’ll be right out or here.”

“What is your mother’s name?” Asks Hunk, knowing the answer.

“Easy!” Lance said. “Rosa Esperanza Sánchez.” He said with a flawless Hispanic accent.

“What is my favorite color.” Hunk squinted. “With number.”

“Yellow #4576.” Lance squinted back.

“Who was your first crush?” Hunk said finally.

Lance stayed quiet for a few seconds. “I-I-I…You asshole! You know I can’t answer that!”

Hunk grinned. “Congratulations, you passed.” He said and hugged Lance as tightly as possible. “We missed you so much!!!” Hunk cried a little, while Lance choked on his hold.

Once Lance was release, the rest of team Voltron (except Shiro’s fake ass) tackled him to the ground.

“I missed you guys too.” Lance smiled.

“Please don’t do that again, you stupid hoe.” Pidge cried, Lance laughed as tears of his own started to form.

“Lance, you absolute doofus!” Allura said sobbing.

Not that Keith didn’t want to welcome Lance or anything, but he didn’t know what to say, he was just overjoyed so he settled to hug him, for now.

“I’m sorry it took me so long to get here, guys.” Lance said, partially crushed by the weight of his teammates.

A few minutes later everyone composed themselves and stood up.

“It’s good to have you back, Lance.” Shiro said reluctantly.

“Er…Thanks, Shiro, it’s good to be back.” Lance seemed confused, he sent Keith a ‘What is up with him?’ look at Keith, who made an ‘I’ll explain later’ gesture.

“Ok, first of all,” Pidge said after she had calmed down. “what the fuck happened?”

“Well, after I took a hit for Keith, decomposed my quintessence and sent it an alternative universe, where I met this billion-year-old alien that sort of got me through all the universe until I could get here.” Lance explained.

“You look…different.” Keith said, scanning Lance from head to toe. Hot was the word Keith had for that amazing ass that fell out the portal, but he also had respect for it so he went for another word.

Lance smirked. “I look hot, right?” He said, but his smile faltered as he continued. “Some, AUs weren’t…as welcoming as others.”

“AUs?” Pidge questioned.

“Oh yeah, Alternative Universe, I shorten it because I had to use it so much to explain alternative you,” Lance said pointing at all the rest of the team. “who I was, why I was there, etc. all depending on the dimension I was on.”

“But you look older, how is that possible?” Allura said.

Lance frowned. “How long has it been since I disappeared?”

“Two weeks.” Hunk informed.

“Two weeks?!” Lance exclaimed scoffing to himself. “It has been two years for me.” He spluttered.

“You are 20 now?” Keith said incredulously, Lance did look more mature, he was taller than before, as well as thicker.

“Yes.” Lance said finally calming down. “I guess that makes sense.” He muttered.

“B-but how?!” Pidge asked, partly because she had lost two years of his friends’ life, mainly because she was science curious.

“You see, the multiverse has three main variables; time, space, and quintessence. You change one, the rest are also altered.” Lance explained. “Thus, me messing with space and quintessence, messed with time as well.”

“How were you even able to travel through dimensions?” Pidge asked once again.

Lance stayed silent for five seconds too many. “Let’s just say that the alien that I told you about helped me get here.”

“Well, as happy as this makes me, we have training tomorrow, how about we continue this at breakfast?” Allura said, with a blinding smile of relieve. “Then you can tell us about all these AU’s you speak about.” She started to walk towards her room. “Good night.”

As tiredness from the day caught up with them, the team started to follow Allura outside. Lance stared with fondness at his family.

“Aren’t you going to go to sleep?” Keith turned to Lance with a soft expression.

“Nah, not yet.” Lance said. “Jumping through dimensions makes me hungry.” He gestured to the goo dispensers.

Keith chuckled slightly. “Well, knock yourself out.” He said as he once again turned to the door. “And Lance?”

“Yeah?”

“It’s good to have you back.” Keith said with a smile, and with that, he disappeared into the corridor.

“It’s good to be back.” Lance muttered with a lovestruck expression. He proceeded to walk to the kitchen to eat.

“Lance.” Said Shiro, appearing in the room.

“Shiro.” Lance said politely. He had been suspicious of Shiro as soon as he got through the portal; he felt something weird on the former black paladin’s aura.

Shiro’s expression darkened. “So, you think you are hot shit, just waltzing here after two weeks of absence?”

Of all the things Lance expected Shiro to say, ‘hot shit’ was not one of them. He was baffled by the question more than anything else.

“Wha-?” Lance started.

“I will not let you ruin the team again with your dumbness.” Shiro spat. “I will pilot the black lion.”

Then the older man turned to the door stomping his way out.

“What the actual fuck” Lance murmured.

 

~~Druids are shit, but I'm hot so that's ok~~

 

Living for more than a year in space with Lance, Keith had always known the Cuban boy was hot. This was not something new for Keith. He had always noticed Lance’s perky butt, gorgeous eyes, and tantalizing skin. But this, _this_ was in a whole other league of its own.

Lance entered the training room with black tight thighs and shirt, which hugged his lean muscles nicely. Keith didn’t know what on earth had happened to the thin (but still attractive) boy, but that is what Keith called a man.

“Morning team.” Lance said with his always dazzling smile. “What are we doing today?”

(Training that day was purely physical conditioning and agility tests, hence none of the paladins needing their armors.)

 “We will be doing some tests in the obstacle field.” Coran answered.

“Ugh, Coran you say it as if you were going to do it too.” Pidge groaned. “You never feel the pain the rest of us do.”

“Come on Pidge, look alive,” Lance said. “I didn’t cross the whole multiverse to hear you whine.” He teased.’

“Shut up you extrovert.” Pidge jokingly sneered, while Lance openly laughed. Later Pidge would join too with a smile of his own.

Keith smiled lightly, this was so different to the tenseness that plagued Voltron before Lance got back. Everyone was happier, except Shiro, who was discreetly glaring at the tan man.

“Ok team! We will be doing an obstacle test, Allura will go first to show us who the exercise is done.” Keith instructed. “I will be next, Shiro, Lance, Hunk, Pidge go after me. Coran will be counting our time.”

Allura goes first, she stumbles once but completes the track with ease in nine 11 dobashes and 45 ticks. Keith follows with 10 dobashes and 23 ticks. Then Shiro goes through the track in 8 dobashes 3 ticks, Lance would like to say Shiro didn’t smirk at him when finished, but we all know he did.

Lance gets ready at the start of the track and breathes in, was Shiro doing this because of last night? Deciding that all this was his imagination, Lance started to run, dogging and jumping every obstacle with surprising ease, doing all kinds of backflips and tricks he could think to do just to be a little shit and spite Shiro.

“6 dobashes, 38 ticks.” Coran said as bewildered as everyone else.

Lance didn’t comment on his win, out of respect to Shiro’s murdered ego.

Keith fought to maintain a straight face, as he suffered from a gay heart attack. Shit, Lance was amazing.

“How on in the name of all that is good am I supposed to top that?” Hunk bemoaned. Luckily for him, he didn’t have to, as the castle comms beeped to alert team Voltron Kolivan, the current leader of the blades was calling.

“Kolivan, greetings.” Allura said politely.

“Greetings to you too princess.” Kolivan said with unchanging facial expression. “Paladins.”

“Is everything all right?” Keith asked.

“Yes, indeed.” Kolivan assured. “But we have discovered Haggar has a new experiment, that allegedly has been successful.”

“Shit, do we know what it is?” Keith cursed.

“No, but we know that Galran armies are under strict orders of protecting it at all costs. I have never seen one of Haggar’s project be so heavily guarded.” Kolivan said. “The blade thinks we should collect more intel on the matter, and since the green paladin is thought to be the best for the job, we believe this mission is better at the hands of Voltron.”

“I see,” Allura said. “do you know where we can find this information?”

“Yes, we will send you the coordinates.”

“Thank you Kolivan.” Allura said, Kolivan nodded and hanged up.

“Ooohhh, I’m so excited!” Lance grinned. “It’s my First mission in two years. What is the plan?”

“We need to divide ourselves into two groups, one will gather the information from this room.” Shiro says and points to where Kolivan had said the information was. “The other will be the backup in case the mission is compromised.”

“How would we sneak into the ship?” Lance said with surprising seriousness, at least for Keith.

“Pidge would bring us in her lion, and we would enter through these ventilation ducts beside the cargo storage.” The black- and white-haired man said with an authoritarian voice.

“Wait, we are too many people to go through these ducts.” Lance reasoned. “If we are discovered we are trapped.”

“Agreed.” Allura said, frankly quite surprised Lance had perceived that flaw in the plan.

“However, this way is easier to the intel, since most rooms need identification we do not have, Lance.” Shiro said harshly and Lance flinched.

“Well, the room we need to go to is on the top of the ship, right?” Lance stated. “If we get inside the ship from the top not only would we be undetected, but there is no risk of being trapped. Plus, we’ll be in and out in a second.”

Keith was about to speak, he agreed with Lance, this seemed a more effective strategy, but he noticed how Shiro’s anger was building up. “Then-” Keith was interrupted.

“Why would you expect the Galra not to notice a gaping hole in their ship from which paladins of Voltron are pouring in, and do nothing about it?” Shiro deadpanned.

“I count on them noticing.” Lance smirked. “What happens when, say an asteroid, pierces any part of the ship?”

 “Reconstruction drones are sent to fix it.” Pidge said still in confusion.

“Thank you Pidge.” Lance grins with accomplishment. “Now, tell me, can these drones detect intruders?”

“No, they cannot!” She brightened in understanding. “Meaning that we could make the Galra think it is just a causality, and as the drones fix the hole, we steal the info.”

“By the time they are done, we will be gone already.” Keith said in shock as he stared at Lance wondering what on earth had happened for this sudden strategic genius.

“That is a terrible idea.” Shiro said barely containing his anger.

Allura losing her patient as well yelled back. “How so, Shiro?!”

Shiro glared at her but stayed quiet not finding a reasonable argument.

“Then it is settled.” Keith declared with irrefutable finality.

“What?” Shiro said and Keith almost rolled his eyes. “You can’t allow-!”

“I can, and I did.” The younger man stated. “This is the best strategy we have, and like such we are going to use it.

Shiro glared at his teammates, but with an especially high intensity at Lance. “Fine,” He tightened his jaw. “Let him fuck up another mission.” Shiro stormed off.

Lance stood there with a mixture of concern and annoyment in his eyes. “What is wrong with him?”

Keith pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “I don’t know, he has been like this since you left.”

It was agreed the plan would be executed the next day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things about this chapter:  
> -Obviously, I had planned this story before season 7, so I had NO idea something similar would happen on Voltron with Keith.  
> -Do you finally get the title of this fic?  
> -I recently read a fanfic from like 2007 and I say they did the thing where they put the title of the fic to signify a time skip, so I shamelessly stole that  
> -Which song do you think Lance would sing to Keith? I was thinking "Mocca" by Lalo Ebratt, it's in Spanish, but look up the lyrics, you'll see why I recommend it. The song is so flirty without being bulgar and I live for that  
> -Does anyone have predictions on what will happen next?  
> -I may be planning to maybe do an extra smutty one-shot complement, solely because I have never written smut and I want to try, what do you think?


	7. Shiro's Fake Ass

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team goes to gather the intel for the Blade, and fake trick ass Shiro show his true colors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyyyy, I'm back!  
> I had like these short bursts of creativity and will to live that got me to actually write this chapter, though it is also the reason it has taken me so long to update.  
> Hope you enjoy!!

Lance groaned as his alarm’s annoying beeps woke him up, he hadn’t slept at all, insomnia had kept him up along with an awful dream of Shiro turning into this possessed clone of himself and Haggar’s laughter in the background. Dreams for Lance nowadays were either his mind messing with his emotionally scarred mind or an awful prediction of the future, but Lance was going to risk it and say it was the first. The more he evaded problems with Shiro the better.

“Sup guys.” Lance said once he arrived at the table for breakfast.

“Lance!” Hunk exclaimed and gave his best friend a strangling bear hug. “I’m so glad you are back, I missed you so much.”

“Bro, I missed you more.” Lance said back.

“Bro.” Hunk looked as if he was going to cry (again) but continued to prepare breakfast.

Pidge entered with her laptop in her hands, code shinning in her eyes. “Morning.”

“Good morning, Pidgey.” Lance grinned when Pidge half-heartedly glared. “What? I’m just greeting my favorite gremlin in the whole multiverse and believe me, I checked.”

“You are lucky you were gone two weeks, or I would kill you.” Pidge huffed.

“Correction, it was two year for me.” Lance said, a little of actual nostalgia shining through. “I haven’t been able to tease you for two years, cut me some slack.” Unbeknownst to Lance Pidge’s eyes softened.

Shiro entered the dining room with a ‘Good morning’, which Lance was sure was pointedly directed to Pidge and Hunk and not him.

Keith, Coran, and Allura entered the room.

“Morning team.” Keith said with an air of authority Lance was proud of.

“Hello Paladins, today we have an important mission,” Allura said, and Shiro attempted to say something (probably throw shade at the plan that they had agreed on.) but Allura quickly cut him off. “which plan has already been discussed. As you already know Lance and Keith, you will be riding with pidge in the green lion, while Hunk and I wait in our lions a few kilometers away in case you need backup.”

“Lance,” Keith voiced. “you and I will guard Pidge as she collects the info we need.”

“Roger that, team leader.” Lance said brightly, sharing a soft look with Keith, which Hunk took mental note of.

“Hunk, you will be the one throwing the asteroid into the ship.” Allura said.

“Shiro, you stay here with Coran to inform us in case our cover is blown and the Galra have called backup.” Keith looked at Shiro (who was frowning.) with eyes that said, ‘don’t you dare question this’. “Does anyone have any questions?” Nobody said anything. “Great, let’s eat.” Keith grinned.

“Lance?” Allura said. “With all the preparations for the missions we have been so busy we haven’t heard of your…uh…trip through the multiverse, I’m sure everyone wants to hear about it.” Allura smiled at Lance.

“Well, what do you want to know?” Lance asked.

“Which one was the weirdest?” Pidge asked excitedly.

“Oh…Uh…Let me see…” Lance pondered. “Maybe the one with the zombie apocalypse, or the college one…NO, I know.” He exclaimed. “The absolute weirdest one was where we were all the opposite gender, that was a wild ride.”

“As in, I was female?” Hunk said in shock.

“Yeah,” Lance laughed. “you were Pidge/Kade.” He pointed at Pidge

“Kade?!” Pidge cried.

“Yeah, you pretended to be a girl at the Garrison,” Lance explained. “see what I mean when I said it was weird?”

“Was I there, my boy?” Coran said with shinning curiosity.

“Si señor.” (Yes sir) Lance nodded, and Keith almost swooned, was Lance speaking Spanish a thing now? Because Keith’s gay heart was not going to be able to handle the absolutely sensual way Lance rolled his r’s. “Your name was Corina, and somehow you still had a mustache.” Everyone laughed at that.

“Was I there as well, Lance?” Allura asked animatedly.

“Yea, your name was Alastair.” Lance said. “You were a fucking amazing prince, to be honest.” Allura giggled. Lance turned to Shiro hesitantly. “You were just Shiro, though.”

“…” Shiro said nothing, and Lance felt uncomfortable and moved on.

“And, Keith.” Lance said with a smug smile, as Keith raised an eyebrow. “You were Kath, and you still had that ugly mullet.”

Keith scoffed. “And you still gave me shit for it?”

“Yeah, it’s my job in every universe to point out your poor style choices.” Lance laughed, soon Keith joined in.

“What was your name?” Asked Pidge, ever the curious one.

“It was Lana,” Lance said simply. “I guess it makes sense. Though that was the weirdest experience of my life, you know, meeting female me.” He smirked. “I kind of wanted to hit on myself.”

“Oh my god! Would you seriously date yourself?” Pidge said incuriously.

“Who would treat me better than myself?” Lance teased.

“Gross.” Pidge pushed Lance as he laughed.

“Were there any dangerous universes?” Keith asked.

Lance sighed. “Plenty of them, unfortunately,” Lance got up from his seat and lifted his shirt, at which Keith almost choked (Goddam six-pack), there were some nasty scars, the worst one on the side of his torso in his left hip. “Evil Hunk stabbed me.”

“I stabbed you?!” Hunk said horrified.

“Well, of course not you, you.” Lance reassured. “Evil you.”

“I-I’m sorry.” Hunk said at the verge of tears.

“Nah man, it wasn’t you.” Lance shrugged. “Besides, I’ve got worse.”

Keith frowned. Lance had worse than a fucking stab wound the size of a state? What had happened to Lance in the two years he was gone?

_~~\--- Druids are shit, but I’m hot so that’s ok ---~~ _

 “Ok, Pidge, Lance, Keith, are you in position?” Allura asked.

“Yes Allura, we are currently flying right on top the Galra ship.” Pidge said Lance and Keith at each side of her.

“Hunk?” Allura asked.

“In position, princess.” Hunk said. “Adjusting the asteroid's trajectory.”

“Perfect, on Pidges mark, push the asteroid.” Allura commanded.

“…1…2…3! Now Hunk!” Pidge instructed. Hunk pushed the rock that started to move at a speed enough to pierce the Galran ship. Hunk had chosen an asteroid big enough to make a hole in the ship, but small enough so that the Galra are not alerted by the damage.

In a minute the asteroid clashed on the ship making a sizeable hole in it. Pidge hacked into the communication system.

_“Attaforn!” Called the commander of the ship._

_“Yes, sir!”_

_“What in the name of lord Zarkon was that?” They demanded._

_“Sir, it appears an asteroid clashed with our ship, but no real damage was made.”_

_“Send the repair bots immediately.” Said the commander_

_“Yes, sir.”_

“It’s showtime.” Said Lance.

Pidge, Lance, and Keith stealthily step out of the green lion as repair bots extract the asteroid. The three of them are undetected by the repair bots. They get inside the ship, and into the room that has a big Galran computer in the center. Pidge immediately starts typing on the computer and downloading the information on Haggar’s new experiment. Lance and Keith are behind her with their bayards ready, surprisingly there is no sign of any Galra, not even the patrol guard robots. That is until one of the Galra soldiers spot them.

“Paladins of Voltron!” The Galra gasps and reaches for his comms, Keith is ready to take him out but knows he can’t knock him out before he informs his superiors they are in the ship. Nevertheless, Keith charges toward the soldier, but a swooshing sound that travels on his left side near his face startles him. Lance’s shot hits the soldier right in the head instantly killing him, Keith turns to Lance in surprise, the later has a stone-cold face as if he had killed in cold blood before. Lance turns to Pidge as if nothing had happened and he hadn’t just murdered a Galra as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Keith watches the Galra’s body, dark purple blood seeping out of the hole in his head.

“And done.” Pidge announces and unplugs a drive off the computer.

“Let’s go, the repair is almost done.” Lance runs out into the hall and out the ship through the hole.

Keith waits until Pidge is ahead of him. She pauses at the lifeless body on the floor and looks at Keith with wide eyes. Keith rushes her out the ship.

“Allura, Hunk?” Keith says through the comms.

“Guys? Do you need backup?” Hunk asks immediately.

“No, we just got the info.” Pidge informs.

“Excellent. Let’s call the castle and tell Shiro and Coran we were successful.” Allura voices. “Coran, Shiro?”

There was no response and an unsettling feeling rushes through all the paladins.

“Coran...?” Allura says once again concern slowly making itself known in her voice. “Coran?!”

“We need to get to the castle, now!” Keith said urgently.

They all rush to the castle and into the hangars of the lions. When they finally make it to the control room, they find Coran on the floor, unconscious.

“Coran!” Allura yells and throws herself by the other Altean’s side, at which Hunk does the same.

“Shiro?!” Keith asks looking for the older man around the room.

“I see you found my little present.” Shiro with a voice darker than his usual and a smirk as his eyes glowed a faint bright yellow.

“Shiro…?” Keith whispered. “Wha-what did you do?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Shiro grinned wickedly at the team. “I killed Coran.”

“No…” Allura’s eyes watered.

“Princess, take Coran to the pods!” Hunk told her. “We’ll hold Shiro.” Allura nodded and picked up Coran and ran to the pods.

Shiro made an attempt to follow her, but Lance pointed his gun at him. “Don’t you even try.”

Shiro smirked. “Oh Lance, I know you can’t shoot, you wouldn’t hurt your leader, would you?”

Keith knew Lance would if he thought this was not Shiro and the rest of the team’s wellbeing was on the line. Lance’s gun started to glow as Lance, albeit somewhat hesitant, prepared to shoot. Shiro frowned but did not move.

“No, Lance, wait!” Keith cried. Lance stopped and Shiro’s smile grew. “Shiro, please, I know you are there, you are stronger than this.” Keith pleaded and got closer.

Shiro laughed. “Oh, Keith, Keith, Keith.” He raised his glowing purple arm and Keith reached for his bayard knowing full well he didn’t have enough time to use it. Keith stared as Shiro’s arm stopped suddenly, and this seemed to surprise Shiro himself as he turned to see his arm coated in blue light.

Lance placed his hands to the sides of Shiro’s head quickly, before the former could see him. Keith watched in shook as Lance’s hands glowed a light blue and Shiro fell unconscious to the floor. Keith stared at Shiro laying on the floor for a second, then raised his eyes to meet Lance’s, which were glowing as brightly as the Altean markings in his cheeks.

“…Is he dead?” Pidge said in a barely there whisper.

“No, he is unconscious.” Lance answered.

Sudden rage coursed through Keith’s chest, maybe due to the fact he couldn’t understand what was happening, or maybe because he was mad the lovable idiot he fell in love had changed so much.

“What the fuck are you?” Keith sneered. “What did you do!”

Lance looked baffled for a few seconds before he was frowning too. “I saved your life, that is what I did!” He shouted back.

“What was that? Why do you have Altean markings?” Keith questioned. “You are like them, you are a filthy druid, aren’t you?”

“So, what if I am!” Lance would not cry. “I just saved you and the team!”

“Who are you?” Keith’s voice was trembling. “Why did you kill that Galra back at the ship? Our Lance would never do that.”

“New flash Keith, after two years of being alone trying to get back to you do that.” Lance snarked. “I can’t be the same dumb boy that stranded us in space. In order to survive I had to change, I had to kill to live.” He continued. “I had to learn I was Altean by myself, I couldn’t trust anyone for more than a year, because my own best friend could kill me!” Repressed tears made their way out Lance’s eyes rolling down his cheeks.

Keith’s words died in his mouth, yes, he was angry at Lance for not telling them about anything that was happening to him. However, he understood more than anyone why Lance had trust issues, why he felt he was alone in this. “I-I-I’m sorry.” Keith choked out.

Lance stared for a few seconds, then he sighed anger disappearing from his gaze. “It’s fine.” He said finally. “Let’s just think about what to do with not-Shiro.”

“Wait, not-Shiro?” Hunk asked.

“Yeah, when I knocked him out, I felt his quintessence,” Lance stated and then pointed at the unconscious body on the floor. “I don’t know who or what that is, but that is not Shiro.”

“Then, what are we supposed to do to find out who that is?” Pidge asked.

“I could scan this Shiro’s memory and find out what he knows.” Lance said honestly.

“You can do that?” Hunk voiced surprised.

Lance flushed slightly. “Y-yes, Master taught me all sorts of things.”

Pidge was about to ask about the master Lance was talking about, but Allura returned.

“Paladins!” Allura exclaimed. “What happened?” She said as she inspected Shiro’s body laying on the floor.

“Well, Lance is apparently Altean and can do magic, and he knocked out Shiro, who is most-likely not Shiro.” Hunk explained.

Allura blinked for a few seconds trying to process what Hunk was telling her. “You are Altean?”

“I mean, at least partly.” Lance said. “I have only known for about a year and a half.”

Allura walked toward Lance, touching his marks with tears in her eyes. Lance blinked uncomfortable, while Keith silently felt jealous.

“Umm…Princess?” Lance asked.

“I’m sorry Lance, it’s just that for so long I thought Coran and I were the only part of Altea that survived.” She apologized. “But you being part Altean means there might be at least one Altean on Earth.” Allura said hopefully.

“Uhh…guys?” Hunk said hesitantly. “Not to break this heartfelt moment, but we might want to check Shiro’s mind before he wakes up and tries to kill us again.”

“Hunk is right.” Keith said, partly because Shiro might wake up any moment, and partly because Allura was too close to Lance.

“Ok, let’s sit him in a chair and tie him.” Lance said, after doing so he stepped in front of Shiro and closed his eyes. Lance placed his hands on each side of his head, then the marks on his cheeks and his hands lit up with a light blue glow.

_Slow chuckles were heard as a dark figure walked around the room. “I see you are finally ready.”_

_There was no response._

_“Voltron won’t expect this.” The figure now could be identified as the Galran empire’s infamous witch Haggar, which white hair did nothing to hide the corrupted yellow eyes and glowing purple skin. “Kuron, you will be my eyes in Voltron.”_

_“Don’t let me down.”_

_Glowing purple hands cursed his vision one last time before blackness._

Lance gasped.

“Lance!” Keith exclaimed along concerned gazes from the rest of the team. “Are you ok?”

“…Yeah.” Lance panted. “Yeah, it was just…intense.”

“What did you see?” Allura pressed.

“I saw Haggar talking to this Shiro, but she called him Kuron.” Lance explained. “She said that he was going to be her spy.”

“Shit.” Pidge blurted out. “She has been spying on us, she most likely knows we went to steal this intel.”

“But she failed.” Keith said. “She doesn’t know about Lances powers, nor that we know Shiro is a clone.”

 _Ohh, yes._ Lance could smell this was the start of an epic plan.

“Well then,” Allura grinned. “Let’s use this to our advantage.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things about this chapter:  
> -I have had an awful year (2018) I hope this year is better for me and for everyone else.  
> -Also, thank you all for the support, I know I'm not easy to deal with, i.e my terrible mood swings and bursts of self-decrepitation alongside my depression that terribly slows the updates. You don't know how much I appreciate those of you who actively read my story (ies).  
> -I don't hate Shiro, just so you know, his constant disappearing and not being there just makes me as mad.  
> -Keith is so cute, and I love him, I still like him better when he was smol Keith before the two year skip, because first, he was a more real character, and second I think that he should have been different after the skip, he was too calm and I miss my fiery mullet-boy.  
> -Lance has like serious problems and I'm not sure if it is because I see myself in him or I just like angsty Lance because (S8 SPOILERS) we didn't get to see any his issues resolved.

**Author's Note:**

> Things to know about this:
> 
> -I, for some reason don’t own Voltron.
> 
> -Fixed a loooot of things
> 
> -Sorry for sort of abandoning this fic, but the school system is shit, and shouldn't explode kids like me on daily basis, leaving them with no time to actually do something they like
> 
> -I don’t know how long this is going to be but I’d guess around 5 chapters
> 
> -NOBODY DIES!!!


End file.
